Americans have decided that it’s OK to vote for a dummy. Nope, I didn’t come to that conclusion from watching last night’s 467th GOP debate. No I didn’t look at how many people have contributed to the likes of Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum. I didn’t even Google George W. Bush.

Nope. I read a new poll that came out yesterday. It said that even though a majority of Americans believe in evolution (57%) and even more believe in global warming (69%), Americans are nevertheless willing to vote for a candidate for president who doesn’t.

Huh?

Now I’m a big fan of history, and I would love to time travel. I’m especially fond of the Victorian Age, but I wouldn’t want to have lived back then. Still, I love Dickens, that decorative architecture, and I would really like to have more opportunities to wear those terrific dresses.

But, going backwards to the scientific beliefs of the mid- to late 1800s seems, well, backwards.

Now I work in science, and last I checked, the whole idea of science was to goforward. Yup, it’s true. That’s how we get all the new stuff, like medicines, technology and pollution controls. That’s how we move forward. Science and technology go hand in hand, or actually hand in latex glove, cause we don’t want contaminants in either, you know.

Now science doesn’t always go forward. You know that doctors have started using leeches again? Yup! Apparently leeches are now used in microsurgery where they clean coagulated blood away from the opening. And, a few years ago, I learned that scientists have figured out that our GI tract is just too clean, and that’s why we have so many bowel problems in the West. The solution? Scientists have developed a treatment where the patient drinks worm larvae, which helps their gut work the way it is supposed to. Think of it as meaty yogurt.

Eating? Oops, sorry. My bad.

But most of the time science goes forward and takes the rest of the world to new and better places.

So what does it mean if Americans will vote for someone who ignores thousands of years of accumulated learning? Elects someone who doesn’t understand, at a minimum, that science is good?

It means that there will be no investment in the future. No cure for cancer or even the common cold. No vacations on Mars.

More importantly, it means cell phones reception will never get any better.

Get this…no surprise really…”Many diplomats do not speak any other foreign languages than English and French.” This is from the Goethe-Institut website written by Sven Scherz-Schade. Really? So when did not talking with members of the host country constitute diplomacy? Let’s see now…what can we do without speaking to one another? Eat? Dance? Run? Play tennis? Play another match of tennis? Stop. I won’t go there. You got me a a bit riled up.

About 30 years ago, I dated a guy who was a student at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. All the students learned languages and all of them were fluent in several. Many went on to jobs at the U.S. State Department, where they were always posted to work in or on countries where they DID NOT SPEAK the language. Apparently, it is an effort to keep them from “going native.” Oy vey! No wonder the world is such a mess!

People want a smart doctor, a smart lawyer and they consider putting their lives in the hands of the likes of Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin. The smart guys get slapped down like junior high girls good at math. I don’t get it either. But I am always hopeful!

Love this post. Glad you found my blog because it led me to yours. We certainly have a lot in common. I always wanted to vote for someone smarter than myself. Now people want a leader dumber than themselves. I don’t get it. But I am more than a little afraid.

While I agree with many of Jamie’s comments, I also feel that the Right’s penchant for going after votes with nonsense comments about what they supposedly “believe,” no matter what it is, is unconscionable. Speaking as a person of faith (the real kind, not the political candidate brand), I will always feel that, as long as the Right refuses to respect the separation of church and state, I’ll stick with the Left. Of course, I have yet to hear what the Martians have to say.

The interesting thing about science is its relationship to art… meaning that it clearly is open to interpretation, manipulation, etc. I am wary of everyone and everything these days as so much of what we are told and presented as fact is manipulated by corporate/political interests in the furtherance of corporate/corporate interests. When people have closed minds and are not able to consider the possibilities that what they have been fed could possibly be up for challenge because it skewed at best or tainted at worst, … that is when forward movement stops, that is when discourse stops, that is when democracy ceases to exist. What troubles me more than one’s rejection of science or his embracing of creationism or whatever, is the seemingly lack of commitment to the American people that everyone in politics seems to have. All I see on both sides of the aisle is posturing, egos, threats, name calling, tit for tatting –stuff we all should have left on the playground, and while all of our elected officials sit back in comfort with their life time guaranteed pensions and excellent healthcare, the rest of us are headed for the crapper. I want someone, Republican or Democrat or Martian to strap on a set of balls and stand up and cut through the bullshit so that the people in this nation do not have to be held hostage to all of the nonsense…. restore my faith on things that matter and leave the rest for those who like to contemplate their navels…. thanks for riling me up this morning.